By Evan S. Levine MD, FACC

Is it time for the DOJ to investigate?

A patient called me urgently as I drove home. He is elderly and anxious. He had travelled to the usual Walgreens he gets his medications but was told, after he entered, that while the store was open the pharmacy was closed.

The urgent medication he required was not available but the Walgreens pharmacy a mile away was open and should take care of it.

But after he arrived at the Walgreens with an open pharmacy he was told that although they were Walgreens and a pharmacy they could not fill any orders prescribed to another pharmacy.

I pulled the car off the road. Did my Google search, got the pharmacy number and called.

Press this for a provider and this to talk to a pharmacist. Ring , ring, ring…. No Answer

Dial again and now select leave a message. Look up the patients’, demographics and leave the prescription on the message. An hour later he had it.

What a mess.

Walgreens, always available to sell you cigarettes, is having trouble finding pharmacists to keep their Pharmacy operating and placing their patients and physicians at risk.

I will advise my patients to make a wiser choice.

Dr. Evan Levine is a practicing cardiologist and author.